Publications

Information for 12520IIED

Land Registration in Amhara Region, Ethiopia

Land Registration in Amhara Region, Ethiopia assesses the process to establish a system of land registration and improve land tenure security, and its outcomes for poor and marginalised groups. The registration process is generating conflict at the local level, due to illegal land grabbing, encroachments into common lands and land sales. Those who are likely to be marginalised by the ensuing disputes include youth, for whom landlessness is a real concern, and migrants. Women, especially divorcees, and the elderly are other groups which are vulnerable to marginalisation, as they often have to look to others to sharecrop their land. There is also a fear that land registration will lead to ‘privatising’ common lands, so important for the landless. For land registration to yield the anticipate benefits of tenure security and environmental conservation, more emphasis is needed on awareness raising, capacity building at woreda (district) and community levels, support for conflict resolution mechanisms, and women’s involvement in the process.